Local man shares journey into paralysis through book

Most people take for granted the most simple tasks such as walking. However for Sidney's John Bahr, he's had to make huge strides to overcome adversity and life as a quadriplegic.

In January, Bahr published his book, "Journey Into Paralysis: Craig Hospital, Love and Madness," which shares the story of his accident, his time in the hospital and the life lessons he's learned throughout his journey.

Bahr will be hosting a book signing at the Sidney Public Library on Saturday at 10 a.m.

On May 6, 2003, while riding motocross, Bahr hit a jump wrong and went airborne. When he landed, he hit the ground hard and landed head first, breaking his neck.

"As soon as it happened my body was numb," Bahr said. "I knew instantly that I was paralyzed."

Bahr – 32 at the time – was transported by Air Link to Scottsbluff where doctors told him he suffered a broken neck and a spinal cord injury. In an instant, Bahr went from riding motorcycles to embarking on the journey of a new life in a wheel chair.

Bahr writes about his three months of rehabilitation at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., and the unlikely friendships he made. According to his book, he and his fellow patients referred to themselves as the "Quad Squad" as they were all quadriplegics.

Bahr began taking classes at Western Nebraska Community College in 2006, taking an English class that required him to write a narrative about a particular time in his life. He started writing about the first day of his accident.

Over time, he continued to write about his story – chapter by chapter.

"It took close to six years to write," Bahr said. "The story really just morphed from one chapter to the next. The idea of writing a book seemed daunting, so I decided to focus on it by chapters."

Bahr hopes that people can get a better understanding of paralysis and what it's like for the families who go through such tragedies.

According to Bahr's blog, the feedback and responses he has gotten from sharing his story have been very positive and he knows that it has touched a lot of people.

"This was really good therapy for me to go back and reflect on what I went through," Bahr said. "Bringing back some of those memories were hard."

He graduated from WNCC in 2014 with an Associate of Arts degree in journalism and also received accolades that included the Board of Governors award.